


Blind Man's Bluff

by toxicdumpingground



Category: The Rat Patrol
Genre: Because I can, But different, Fem Sam Troy, Temporary Blindness, The Blind Mans Bluff Raid, genderbent character, more ladies to come, sunblindness, trickery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-17 18:35:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28978965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toxicdumpingground/pseuds/toxicdumpingground
Summary: The Blind Man's Bluff raid with a twist.





	Blind Man's Bluff

Finding Sergeant Sam Troy in the desert, unconscious, dehydrated, and a few more hours from death had been both good-luck and misfortune. She had been fairly unresponsive, and even now two days later, she was just beginning to stir. 

At first, slowly. Her mouth opened and closed, and then her head turned side to side frantically. Fraulein Bauer pressed a cloth to her forehead, trying to keep her still. “Alright,” she said, “you’re alright. Take it easy, you’re safe now.” Troy paused, her eyes flickering open just a moment and her wide blue eyes focused...on nothing. The soldier stiffened, her hand reaching out to grab at the nurse perched on the side of her bed. “Don’t be frightened,” Bauer tried to assure her. “Don’t be frightened.” 

Troy sat bolt upright, Dietrich momentarily averted his eyes. She wasn’t wearing most of her uniform but was wearing a worn-out undershirt to preserve her modesty and reduce the heat. 

“I can’t see,” Troy cried, her eyes wide and her face more frightened than he’d ever seen. She held a trembling hand in front of her face. “I can’t see!” 

“Just lay back,” Bauer said, trying to push the larger woman down.

“I’m blind!” Troy didn’t budge. “Why can’t I see. I’M BLIND!” 

“Lie back,” Bauer glanced at Dietrich. “Take it easy.”

“I can’t see,” Troy gasped again, her voice tinged with wretched despair. “I’m blind!” 

“Take it easy,” Bauer pushed the woman down. This time the leader of the Rat Patrol went willingly enough, collapsed against the sheets. Rushing across the tent, Bauer reached the flap and pushed it open. “Doctor! Doctor, come quickly, please!” A moment later the doctor came rushing in, bringing a scope up to the sergeant’s eyes. 

“That’s it,” she muttered, “I’ve had it, Doc. I’m blind. I’m really blind.” 

“Just take it easy, soldier. Just take it easy.” He bent over her to look at her eyes before leaning back. “Well, if they hadn’t picked you up when they did youda had it. But, you just succeeded in picking up a beautiful case of sun blindness.” He smiled at the unseeing woman who didn’t seem at all calm. 

“Will I get my sight back?” She demanded. 

“You just relax and take it easy and do what your nurse says and you’ll be alright in two or three days. Just wait till you see the nurse.” He paused, frowning at himself, and likely his automatic slip. He was used to dealing with men like this, not someone like Sgt. Troy. The woman took a shallow breath and nodded faintly. “You’re a lucky troop, sir. Nurse, eyedrops every two hours.” 

“Yes, doctor.” 

He patted her shoulder. “I’ll see you later sergeant.” 

“Thanks, Doc.” She sat up. “Oh, Doc.” 

“Yes, sergeant?”

“What about the others? Moffit, Pettigrew, Hitchcock? They know I’m here?” 

“Well, we’re just a temporary aid station here. You were picked up in the desert two days ago, headquarters was notified and I imagine that there’s been some contact with your boys. Anything else?” 

“Nah,” she said, “that’s okay, doc.”

The doctor turned to leave, nodding at Dietrich. He stared at the woman and proceeded the doctor out of the tent. When they were a fair distance away, the doctor looked around. 

“Well, got yourself a prize package here, haven’t you?” 

“I want this area to be kept clear of all personnel, doctor. If anything goes wrong, I lose my chance at the others. How long will she be blind?” 

“As I said, she’ll be normal in two or three days.” 

“I want her to be kept blind,” Dietrich ordered, “Until she gives me what I want.” He paused. “How’s Fraulein Bauer?   


“She’s one of our best,” the doctor assured him, he paused. “You’re real anxious to get this Rat Patrol, aren’t you.” 

“Why, yes,” he turned to the other man. 

“This Troy really is Sgt. Troy?” 

“She is dangerous and clever. You had better hope that Fraulein Bauer can match her. She has outsmarted many operatives before.” 

“She’ll do fine, but what do you want with her? She’s just…” He shrugged. “She doesn’t seem that dangerous.” 

“I assure you, Doctor, she is dangerous and not to be underestimated. Ensure she is,” he paused, “kept in the dark.” With a nod, he retreated to his own tent to sort through paperwork. Capturing Troy, even by accident, was a feather in his cap. She, and by extension the entire Rat Patrol, had been wrecking havoc across their supply lines. They stole papers, plans, bombed camps, and could sneak in and out to kidnap a single officer. 

Troy had been a worthy adversary before Sgt. Cotters death, and with the addition of Sgt. Moffit, she had a new weapon in her armory. Moffit was the man she needed, and since there seemed to be no trouble with settling Moffit in with Americans he had to assume that there was no trouble with the good sergeant taking orders from the woman. 

Being blind was frightening, but her case of sunblindness was useful. 

#$#$#4

Troy, exhausted despite her rest and she smiled as the nurse sat on the bed and she reached over to touch the delicate arm moving over her. “You smell like perfume.” 

“It’s a good brand,” the nurse replied, a smile in her voice. “It keeps its scent through everything.” 

“Huh, can’t imagine that you’d be putting it through the same wringer I would.” 

“Probably not, sergeant.” 

“What’s your name?” Sam asked, running the familiar fabric of the nurses uniform through her fingers. 

“Patricia,” she replied, and paused a beat. “Pat, if you like.” 

“Pat.” Sam smiled. “I’ll take one of each.” 

“You should take some rest now. I’ll check in with you later.” 

“Wait,” Sam clutched her shirt, “Pat...can you find out something about my men?” 

“If it’ll make you feel better,” she said, and Sam smiled. “I’ll be right back.” 

“Alright,” settling against her blankets, she sighed as she heard the woman leave. Pat was a lot more quiet than most of the nurses she dealt with. 

#$#43

“Fraulein Bauer,” Dietrich tapped the end of his cigarette and eyed the young woman in front of him. “Befriend, Sgt. Troy and speak with her. Get what you can from her.”

“She is asking after he men, Herr Hauptmann. I said that I would ask after them.” 

“Tell you that nothing has come through, but I want to learn more of Sgt. Troy. Her...intentions and her thought process.” 

“I’ll do my best,” she checked her watch. “She is due for more eye drops.” 

“They will keep her blind?” 

“They won’t help,” Bauer raised her eyes, “as far as Sgt Troy is concerned I am an American field nurse. If we speak too closely then she might uncover something. I am good, but preventing her from.” 

“Do your best,” he ordered, “and...be friendly.” 

She nodded and excused herself from his tent. Across the compound he hoped that Troy would open up to her new ‘friend’. 

34334434

Being blind had a lot of drawbacks, Sam realized pretty quickly. She couldn’t read anything to distract herself her worry about her men, and she couldn’t play cards. She could only sit there, fretting quietly. 

“Sergeant?” Pat was back, bringing in the faint scent of perfume. 

“Pat,” Sam turned her head in her direction. “Anything on my men?” 

“No, not yet.” Pat was careful as she dropped medicine into her eyes. “How are you feeling? Any change yet?” 

“Lousy,” Sam admitted, “no change.”

“I’m sorry,” Pat leaned back, “sunblindness isn’t lasting, but it is.” 

“Boring?” Sam prompted, and she guessed that the woman nodded before catching herself. 

“Yes, it’s very boring. How about I keep you company?” 

“That would be nice,” Sam admitted, “any other cases to keep an eye on?” 

“Not really, there are other nurses for that.” 

“Stange,” Sam leaned back against the pillows, and turned her unseeing eyes around the tent, not knowing she was skipping over the German soldier on guard-duty. “Usually they put a partition. Seems a bit….strange to have a whole tent to myself.” 

“Well, the doctor thought you could use the privacy, being a lady and all.”

Sam laughed, the noise startling Pat. “A lady? I know a few folks who would fight you over that.” 

“Really?” 

“Not a lady like you,” Sam admitted, groping around the bed for the woman. Pat intercepted her hands, and they sat in silence. “Did you guys find my hat?” 

“Yes, we did. It’s hanging up on the post over there. You can’t see it, but it looks fine. Sam, how did you come to get that hat?” 

“Huh,” grinning, the sergeant shook her head. “Sorry, Pat. That’s classified.” 

“Classified, or do you not want to tell me about the handsome Australian you got it from.” Pat sounded like she was pouting.

Sam chuckled, “Does it look okay? No burns or tracks on it?” 

“It looks fine, sergeant.” 

“Sam,” she prompted, “call me Sam.” 

“You’re awfully attached to that hat, Sam,” Pat sounded like she was grinning.

“Yes, I am.” 

“You know, it’s the strangest thing.” Pat fussed over the blankets. “You with the hat and...what, and entire Long Range Desert Patrol? What’s the story?”

“We’ve all got to do our part,” Sam shrugged, “I’m doing mine.” 

“But you’re out there, aren’t you frightened?” 

“Everyone is,” she smiled. “I promise.” 

“Hmm, you seem so brave. You don’t seem frightened.” 

“I can’t see anything,” Sam told her, “I can’t...I don’t want to lose that.” 

“No one does, sergeant,” Pat set a hand on hers. “But sun blindness goes away, and in a few days you’ll be just fine.” 

“I’d feel better if I knew where my boys were. Any news?” 

“I’m sorry, Sam. There’s been no news.” 

“I see,” she squeezed Pat’s hand. “They’ll be okay.”

“Do you really think so?” 

“They had better be,” she groused, “I didn’t give them permission otherwise.” 

“Of course,” Pat agreed, and we know that they are excellent at obeying orders. What?” She asked when Sam grimaced. “What’s wrong?” 

“Okay,  _ now _ I’m worried.”

“Of course,” Pat agreed and smiled at the soldiers standing guard. “I understand.” 

#$#$# 

  
  


When morning came, Dietrich emerged onto the compound after a decent night of sleep. It rarely happened in the desert, and it never happened when he had a member of the Rat Patrol in custody. They had a way of escaping and he couldn’t sleep when he had them in custody. It set him on edge, and he jerked awake at any noise during those times. 

She wasn’t going to escape. 

“Morning, Captain.” He turned to the doctor, who was smiling. 

  
“Good morning,” he went to pace alongside the man. “How is my patient doing?” 

“She seems to be enjoying poor health,” the doctor was still smiling, but it was empty. 

“Has the nurse been able to learn anything?” He asked, wondering what sort of secrets Troy might have yielded to the beautiful woman taking care of her. Troy, he had noticed, had many weaknesses. Curiously enough, beautiful women were on the top of that list. Why, he couldn’t fathom. If they were not in the middle of an operation, he would have offered a smile to the young woman. She  _ was _ beautiful, and clearly intelligent, and ruthless enough to use both as a weapon. 

“You’d be the first to know.” The doctor assured him, glancing toward the tent holding Sgt. Troy. 

“I want you to understand one thing very clearly, doctor.” He stopped walking and turned. “That every hour means that they can slip away from me.” 

“We’re doctors and nurses here, not that Almighty.” 

“Then we will try my prescription, my good doctor. How about that?” He nodded toward Sgt. Troy’s tent. “Shall we?” 

#$#$#$3

Sam felt better after sleeping deeply and heavily for a few hours, and sitting up in bed, listening as Pat walked around the tent. “What happens to you?” She asked, “when all of this is over. When you get back home?” 

“Pick up where I left off, I guess.” She stepped away, “try putting myself back in the world...as a woman.” 

“Well, that shouldn’t be too hard for someone like you,” Sam said, grinning. Her eyes did feel better, and there was light in her eyes, and the shapes were dark and blurred. Strange, because Pat had completely forgotten to give her medication during the night. She should have, to keep anything from damaging her eyes further, but she didn’t mention it. 

“And would you know that, sergeant?” Pat was smiling too, and she sat beside Sam, helping her grope for the glass of water. After a sip, she winced as she knocked over the eye dropper. 

“Sorry,” she said. 

“It’s alright, it was closed. So, how  _ would _ you know that?” 

“I just would,” Sam continued. “You’ve got a lot to look forward to.” 

“I’m not sure,” Pat admitted, and did what she did to Hitch wherever a girlfriend dumped him, patting her shoulder, she continued. 

“It’s okay,” Sam tried to assure her, and paused as someone entered into the room. The flap rustled, and despite herself, she went on high alert. 

“Doc?” She asked, diverted from Pat’s sad tone. There was silence. “Doc?” She blinked, trying to see past the darkness still clinging to her eyes and the sunlight barely shining in. 

“I’m here, old buddy,” the man moved closer. His tone heavy and Sam sat up straighter. 

“What’s the matter?” She demanded, “Something’s wrong? I won’t be able to see?” 

“No, it’s not that.” The disturbance in the air around her face had her thinking he was waving a hand in front of her face. “But I’ve got some pretty lousy news.” 

“What is it?” She asked. 

“Well, it’s your friends. They haven’t reported back to headquarters. They were in contact you know, before you got cut off. The radio transmission was cut and the report is that the operator heard machine gun fire before they got cut off.” 

“Did they say where they were?” Her mind was racing, if Dietrich got a hold of them while she was incapacitated she would never forgive herself. 

“No,” the doctor replied, “but the report went to the CP, and we’d hoped they’d been in contact before this.” 

“And?”

“No..not a thing.” 

“What else?” 

“Well, the big problem is that no one seems to know where they are.” Sam took a steadying breath, blinking once or twice. “Is there any place, and place they might hole up if they can’t contact us?” 

“Yeah,” she admitted, “there’s a spot... a rendezvous.” 

“For heaven’s sake! Tell me where it is and I’ll send a patrol for them!” His voice was insistent, and Sam clenched her jaw. 

“Get my hat,” she ordered. “I’ve got a map inside. 

#$#$#$

Almost not daring to believe it, Dietrich shook his head as the doctor called “nurse!” , and reached over for Sgt. Troy’s near iconic cap himself. He held it up, and smiled faintly as he found the folded paper. It was  _ was _ a map, tucked neatly away into the hat. He passed it to Nurse Bauer with a nod, doing his best to keep his breathing low and even. 

Bauer approached the American, unfolding the map. 

“They’ll be there, won’t they?” The doctor asked, and Dietrich smiled faintly. 

“The sun rises tomorrow, doesn’t it?” Sam smirked faintly. 

“The map,” Bauer muttered, sitting beside the other woman. 

“Take my hand,” his long-time rival and most frequent cause of headaches tilted her head to the side. “Get me to Habib Oasis*.” 

“You’re there,” Bauer glanced at Dietrich, and he noticed the worry in her eyes. 

“Not make a sharp left, but be careful. There’s usually a jerry recon patrol.” Dietrich stared, watching her intently as she guided Nurser Bauer around the map. “Now, where am I?” 

“You are one point two degrees south-ease of Habib Oasis, ol’ buddy.” The doctor glanced over, and Dietrich took a shallow breath, holding himself together the best that he could. 

“We just got the jackpot,” Sam grinned, pleased and triumphant. “Ol’ buddy.” 

“No, Sergeant Troy,” he couldn’t resist himself and felt something like glee rising from his stomach. “ _ I did. _ ” 

#$#$

The thunderbolt of realization that struck her came on the heels of a dangerous sentence uttered by a voice she knew well. _ Too well _ , and she was up and off her pillows before she could think. 

_ That voice _ ! 

The doctor, was he even a doctor, tackled her, and before she could reach the distance separating herself and Captain Dietrich, collapsed against bed and the sheets, vibrating with fury. 

“You will be taken to a POW camp immediately, sergeant.” Dietrich’s tone was officious and cold, as practical as ever. “Don’t feel too badly,” Her hand wrapped around a bar on the footboard, staring sightlessly ahead. “You didn’t betray your men. You were only trying to help them.” Sam gulped, gripping the bar even more tightly. “I would like you to meet your nurse, Fraulein Bauer from the German Intelligence Corp.” That was  _ really _ driving it home. She had been betrayed, tricked, and Dietrich wanted her to know it. It was pushing in just how she had fallen for this ruse. She heard him take a breath, shallow and ragged. “Here are dark glasses, I hope the sun won’t hurt your eyes too much.” Something was set on the bed, just inches from her face. “Now, if you will excuse me, sergeant, I have a nest of desert rats to clean out.” 

She heard him leave, quick and sure footsteps, looking up she followed the indistinct shape as it vanished. 

“That’s the way she goes,” the doctor set a hand on her arm, “ol’ buddy.” A second shape sauntered out. 

“You should know,” Troy muttered, and began pushing herself back up. Pat…. _ Buaer _ reached over to help her, and Troy shrugged her off, furious. Slowly she sat back against her pillows and dug her hands into the sheets. The indistinct form of Bauer moved, and a delicate hand encircled her wrist before pressing a pair of sunglasses into her hand. 

“Thanks,” Sam said, “you sure know how to help.” 

“It’s one of the things I get paid to do.” Bauer replied. 

She looked over, squinting and blinking at the gas lamp to her right. 

“I told you wouldn’t have any problems,” Sam spoke up, “and I meant it. The Germans train their agents well.” 

“It isn’t all the way you think,” Sam thought she could detect a hint of remorse. “I was living in America. I was going to become an American citizen, but I went back to Germany for a visit...and the war broke out.” 

“And you decided to double cross your new country?” 

“Is it a double cross? I am a German.” 

“And you have to live with yourself.” 

“Don’t you think I love my country as you love yours?” Bauer asked. “I do what I can.” Sam gritted her teeth as her own words were flung back in her face. “To fight the way a woman can.” Sam scoffed, turning to the side. “To preserve the life that I grew up with.” 

The sound of engines followed, and Sam sighed. 

“Let’s not play games, sergeant. My job is to be sure that you can’t see or go anywhere.” 

“Are you really a blond?” She asked and coughed into her fist.

“No.” Bauer really didn’t sound apologetic, and Sam sighed. 

The breath caught, and she coughed again and again, until her whole torso was wracked with them. When she finally caught her breath again, Bauer had a hand on her back was was helping her keep stable. “Sergeant?” 

“Just a little dust,” Sam replied, “happens all the time.” 

“All of the time?” 

“Pretty much,” Sam sighed, and she leaned against the metal headboard, affecting catching her breath. “But not often enough to see a doctor about.” 

“Stay right there, Sergeant,” Bauer sounded worried, “a cough like that is not normal.” 

“I’m fine,” Sam coughed and reached for her glass of water and took a sip. She leaned back against the headboard, sighing. “I’m really fine.” 

“Excuse me,” Bauer left, and Sam only had a few seconds to reach over and snag the eye-dropper and clear dropper and fill it with water. She replaced the dropper and then the bottled, and when the doctor and Bauer re-entered the tent she was sitting quietly and sipping at her water 

“Coughing?” The doctor asked, “you’ve been having coughing fits?” 

“I’m fine,” Sam replied, listening to the too-cheerful traitor bustle around the tent. She flinched as something cold and round pressed against her torso. 

“Relax, it’s just a stethoscope,” the doctor muttered, and Sam shook her head. 

“I’m fine, doc. It’s just a cough.” 

“Hold on,” he muttered. “Well, they sound clear enough, but I’ll tell the base doctor to keep an eye out for your coughing. If you’ve inhaled sand.” 

“I’m fine,” Sam took another drink and the tent flap rattled against. 

“What is going on?” Dietrich had returned. Drawn by the doctors harried rush over or some baser instinct that told him that Troy was up to no good, she didn’t know. “What games are you playing, Sergeant Troy?”

“I’m fine,” she replied, “get this guy out of here, will ya’?” 

“What is the matter, doctor?” 

“Sergeant Troy has been coughing,” Bauer said quickly. 

“Thanks,” Sam muttered, taking another drink. “For that.” 

“You may be angry at me, Sergeant, but I am still a nurse.”

“She’s right,” the doc moved off the bed, “Nurse, alert the base doctor when you arrive. Have them keep an eye on it. We wouldn’t want their prize to cough up a.”

“Prize,” Sam repeated, having heard the phrase before, but never stated so boldly. She turned her hazey eyes the direction she’d last heard Dietrich’s voice. 

“But indelicately,” he said after a moment, “but yes.” 

“Prize,” she repeated again, and cleared her throat. 

“You are the leader of the Rat Patrol,” the doc put in, and if it weren’t a waste of water then Sam would have hurled the glass at him. “They’ve been hunting you a while.” 

“Enough of this,” she heard Dietrich shift, and couldn’t help the flinch that came when something soft was tossed onto her lap. “Get dressed, sergeant.” With a faint jolt she realized that she was basically undressed in front of her enemies. The doc and nurse she didn’t care about, but  _ Dietrich _ ? Unacceptable. She set her glass aside and heard him leave and then the doc left. She began to pull on her shirt and paused as Bauer spoke up. 

“You need more medicine,” she muttered, and Same held very still as small hands worked over her face and then she blinked away the water as it dripped into her eyes. To no surprise, her vision began to clear faintly, as if the film was being washed away. A second drop in each eye and she could begin to make out colors and more defined blurs. The sound of trucks and half-tracks rumbling away gave her a countdown to work with. 

Dressing and stumbling her way out of bed hadn’t been on her list of things she wanted to do, but putting on the sunglasses, she let Bauer and the doctor lead her out of the tent. The glasses did help, and she had finally figured out where she was, and could only catch the barest glimpse of people moving around. 

Being helped into an ambulance, hot and a little cramped with the doctor, Bauer, and some guards. It was flattering that Dietrich seemed to think so highly over her, one guard

in the ambulance and then the motorcycle escort? It wouldn’t make escape easy, but she had it on good authority that they wouldn’t be able to stop her. 

“Cigarette, sergeant?” The doctor asked. 

She held out a hand, trying to reach for the proffered box, but Bauer cut her off and help stick the cigarette between her lips. 

“Light?” He asked, and Sam puffed for the cigarette to light. “You know you’ve made Captain Dietrich a very happy man.” 

“I hate to have to disappoint the captain,” she answered. It was an American cigarette and she wondered where he got it.

“Since you and your guys got here to this desert you have bugged him but good. I’m afraid he’ll miss the challenge.”

“I gotta admit, he hooked me this time.” She admitted, the sense of anger and hatred dying as she considered her options. “In fact, all of you did.” 

“Oh, it’s not so bad, you’re out of it. Have a drink, Sarge.” That was more irritating than anything. Sarge was reserved for Hitch and Tully,  _ not _ backstabbing jackass doctors. She held up her hand, letting him pressed the bottle into it “To liberation.” 

“To liberation,” she agreed, and took a quick swig.

“To liberation,” he took a drink, she watched as his figure pass the bottle to the guard across from her. She made her move as he reached for it, his weapon finally angled away. Shoving him out of the back of the ambulance, she heard him hit ground and punched the doctor as heard she she could. He slumped to the side, and yanking his pistol out of his pocket, she was ready for when the driver slammed on the brakes and came running around. It took a single bullet to take care of him, and the motorcycle driver never stood a chance. 

Scrambling out of the ambulance, she hauled him off and turned back to Bauer as she cried. “You’re still blind! Sergeant Troy!” 

“Only mostly,” Sam shook her head, climbing onto the motorcycle, “we do what we can.” 

With that, she left the ambulance and the bodies and the betrayal behind. She had to get to her men. 

$#$#$ 

The anticipation of finally catching and removing the Rat Patrol from the desert was almost enough to crush him as he approached the hideaway and realized that there was no Rat Patrol to be found. 

Only an empty, familiar motorcycle with a pair of sunglasses perched on the edge of the sidecar. 

She had gotten away. She had escaped, blind and guarded, she had still escaped. He considered the glasses for a long moment before looking around. Doubtless Troy would pull her men out and race for a location he didn’t have. 

Folding them up, he slid them into his shirt pocket and walked back to his vehicle. 

One day he would succeed and today he nearly had. Two days of watching the sergeant recover from near death-by-heatstroke and dehydration, and a day of waiting patiently for her to crack...and his scheme had nearly worked. 

He climbed into his truck and gave his men the order to return. 

#$#$#

“Dietrich doesn’t look very happy,” Moffit said quietly, watching Dietrich drive away. 

“It’s a long story,” Sam squinted at the vanishing cars. Her vision was still spotty, bt she managed to climb into her jeep well enough. “Hitch, you alright?” 

“We thought you’d bought it, Sarge,” the young man said, “couldn’t find you anywhere.”

“I got picked up by the jerries,” Sam told them, “I’ll explain more when we get back to base.” She made herself comfortable in her seat. “Let’s shake it!” 

#$#$# 

“Well,” Doctor Mulligan was a familiar presence, and given what she’d just dealt with, she was happy to be around someone she knew. “You were right, Sergeant. They were giving you something to keep you from recovering. Thankfully, you seemed to sleep through most of the trouble.”

“Thanks, doc.” Sam’s relief could not have been more clear to Moffit, but to everyone else his commanding officer looked perfectly unruffled. “No problems?” 

“No, Sergeant, your eyes will be normal in a day or two. You’re not going back out until your eyes are all clear, so don’t get too worried. I’d say take a walking stick.” 

“Thank won’t be necessary,” Sam said, turning her head toward Jack. “Moffit?” 

“I’ll be your eyes, Sergeant Troy,” he promised, and her face didn’t crack into a smile he knew was lurking in her eyes. 

“Great,” the doctor said, “you go get some rest and don’t do anything stupid.” 

“I’ll do my best,” Sam promised and Mulligan knew here too well to believe her. Jack took her hand and then her elbow and escorted her from the hospital. It was a short walk across base to the quarters that the commander had finally caved an given just to them. 

They were a special unit, and it wasn’t worth the effort to house Sam with the other women on base when she went out on patrols so often. 

“I must say,” Jack said as soon as he guided her into their cramped quarters, “that it’s a relief that you’re doing well, Troy.” 

“You weren’t worried, were you?” Sam slid her hat off, and moved to hang her hat on a hook. It was a practiced movement, and so instinctual that she looked faintly surprised that she had found the hook so easily. 

“Always,” he admitted. His usual...reluctance to speak about his feelings were all well and good until he had met Sam Troy. He had to explain himself, otherwise she would take him at face value. 

“Best time I’ve ever had with the Germans,” Sam admitted, feeling for the one comfortable chair that they generally argued over. Sinking into it, she sighed. “Thought I was in an American aid station, and that you were all really missing. I thought Dietrich might have gotten you.” 

“And it was the other way around,” Jack mused. The sight of his commander stumbling over their hiding place, looking mostly healthy, but tripping easily and squinting had been a tad frightening. “I’m afraid I snapped at the boys.” 

“They call you ‘Sarge’?” 

“I will break them of that habit,” he swore, and he approached Sam with a cup of tea and pressed the tin mug into her hand. “Yes, thankfully Dietrich’s dastardly scheme was unsuccessful.”

“Dastardly,” Sam sipped the tea and grimaced. They were leaves that had been used a few times, but the sooner he broke her of her coffee habit, the sooner he could trade their coffee for information and other things and she wouldn’t have him court martialed. “Still can’t make a cup of coffee?” 

“‘Fraid not, Troy.” He sat on his bunk cot and sighed. “You’ve probably got the good captain yanking out his hair and cursing your name.” 

“Sounds about right,” Sam leaned back, satisfied. 

“But the traitors?” 

“I told Captain Boggs,” the amusement dropped from her face. “They won’t try that trick again, but since I didn’t see their faces.” 

“We have little to go off of. Sorry, old chap.” She had given him the basics of what had happened. How she had given their hidey-hole away only to hear Dietrich rebuke her. “I must say, for a regular officer, Dietrich does have a flair for the dramatic.” 

“Pretty dramatic.” Sam agreed, “a hell of a trick too.” 

“True,” he leaned back on his cot, staring at the ceiling. “Certainly in line with his more...unusual schemes.” 

Sam hummed quietly in agreement. She had escaped, but that fact that she had been duped so thoroughly was a sting she wasn’t going to forget very soon. They both look around as the door rattled. 

“Sarge?” Hitch asked. 

“Come in,” she said, and her youngest driver clattered into the room. 

“Sarge, Tully got the jeeps to the motorpool and I picked up this.” He flourished something and Sam looked over at Moffit for clarification. 

“A book?” 

“The Mysterious Affair at Styles?” Jack asked. “Good Lord! Perfect!” 

“What is it?” 

“A mystery novel!” Jack caught the book that Hitch tossed. “An Agatha Christie novel. She’s an excellent writer, a bit too clever for most, and Hercule Poirot is truly the successor to Sherlock Holmes!” 

“Huh,” Troy mused. “Murder?” 

“Oh yes,” her second sounded far too gleeful. “Good show, Hitch.” 

“Tully thought you could use it,” Hitch said enthusiastically, “something about you being bored out of your skull.” 

Tully was smarter than anyone gave him credit for, and he was too smart to deliver what was probably a thoroughly british book to her second with the implication that he was going to read it to her. 

“Excellent!” Jack was probably beaming as much as a deeply reserved Englishman could beam. 

“Yeah,” Troy leaned back in the chair, sighing. It was better than sitting in a POW camp and she had probably been just a few minutes from. “So, murder mystery?”

“Old chap,” Jack leaned on his accent and tone to bring the faintest smile to her face, “this is better than my thesis, wouldn’t you say?” 

“Do you have a copy of that?” She wondered, faintly horrified by the notion. 

“Of course,” he said, winking at Hitch, “it’s an excellent read. I can get it out if you.” 

“See ya, Sarge,” Hitch ducked out, and Sam frowned at her second.

“Read,” she ordered, gesturing with her mostly full tea-cup. 

Jack chuckled quietly and opened the book, “Chapter one, I go to Styles.” 

#$#$# 

Dietrich was spending his evening working on his report and smoking when the doctor cleared his throat and poked his head into the tent. 

“Captain.” 

“Doctor,” he eyed the man as he hoisted a small bottle with two glasses. “Come in.” A bandage was wrapped around his head, and there was an impressive bruise on his face. “How is your head?” 

“I’ll be fine,” the man groused, taking the free seat and pouring the drinks. “Last thing I expected was for her to pull a trick like that with all of those guards.” 

“Certainly one you wouldn’t expect,” Dietrich agreed, sipping the drink and savoring it briefly. “I warned you. She is dangerous and not to be underestimated.” 

“Yeah, yeah, you said that,” the doctor prodded his bruise with a grimace. “I thought….well. I guess I thought you might have been overreacting, but they said you were the longest lived guy to face this Rat Patrol.” 

“Yes,” he was the longest surviving officer to face the rats and his success rate wasn’t stellar. He had lost more than he could really care to calculate. 

“But that Troy...she’s….she’s a sergeant. How?” 

“No one is sure, and Sergeant Troy has not explained.” 

“None of them have? Surely that Moffit guy doesn’t like taking orders from an American woman? That’s a little screwy, and the two others?” 

“We do not exchange pleasantries,” he told the other man, and he shrugged. 

“Must’ve kissed the right officer to get her own command,” the doc smirked faintly, “I wouldn’t have believed if I hadn't seen it.” 

“Which is precisely the problem,” Dietrich replied, thinking back on Troy’s wide, panicked eyes as she jerked awake. Even more he considered how she had been so lifeless when they had brought her in. His patrol beaming with pride and excitement at having found the leader of the Rat Patrol. It was only out of respect and fear for Troy and himself that her hat hadn’t been stolen as a souvenir. “The refusal to see the Rats as a threat is what has cost us a great deal in this desert. Disregarding Sergeant Troy has proven a detriment.” 

She had been dangerous with the other sergeant and now that she had Sergeant Moffit, she was even more so. A man who spoke multiple languages, was familiar with the area, bold and fearless and hotblooded in battle, loyal to Troy. It was a faint miracle that he hadn’t been killed already. 

Moffit was a reserved Englishman, and Dietrich had been around enough English before the war to read them, and he was familiar with Moffit. The short, stocky, American with the non-regulation hat commanded his loyalty totally and completely.

“You know,” the doctor smirked faintly, “I heard the strangest rumor not too long ago. A bit of a joke, you know.” 

That didn’t bode well, and Dietrich returned to his paperwork. He wasn’t interested in gossip. 

“You know, Troy’s a...woman.” 

“I am pleased to see that America has stringent standards for their doctors,” he replied. “Such a fact might have escaped my notice.” 

“And she’s not bad looking either and folks were wondering if you and she had gotten around to making an arrangement.” 

“An arrangement?” He asked, and paused as the implications sank in. 

“I mean, she had to get her command somehow, and you’re pretty smart so the fact that she’s been bugging you so well had to be caused by something. Some men would sell a lot for that. I saw you with her though, is it usual for you to stay at your prisoners bedside?”

It wasn’t often that he felt such a genuinely violent rage that rose and was probably staining his face and ears the way it had as a child. He glanced up at the doctor and took pleasure with the face his face froze and the words paused. 

The implication that would sacrifice supplies his men needed, his men, his weapons, and his vehicles for one American was absurd. Contriving that an affair with someone was enough to lay aside his career and dignity? The insult felt like a slap to his face, and he wanted nothing more than to demand who had started such a rumor. 

“Thank you for the drink, doctor,” he said shortly, “have a good evening.” 

“Ah,” the man nodded and vacated the tent before Dietrich could fully process the intense insult. 

_ How dare they? How could they? _ He had listened to the most absurd rumors about Troy and her men, some disgusting and some utterly ridiculous. It was nothing short of insulting that either Dietrich or Troy would, he glowered at his report. 

Major Hann had died trying capture Troy. Captain Kieger had been captured, as had a host of other glory-seekers, each of them jostling for the rewards and bounty money that would come from capturing Troy and her men.

Troy, with her absurd and and inexplicable presence in the desert with a command, had been shocked the first time she and Dietrich had met. He had taken reports of the Rat Patrol seriously, and hadn’t known until they had come face to face that Sergeant Troy was a woman. Given the total and unprecedented destruction she had just rained down on his head for several weeks, he had hardly believed it. 

Originally he had assumed that Sergeant Cotter was the leader, and that Troy was simply along for...he had never settled on one single suspicion as to why Troy was out there in those jeeps. Only time and repeated meetings had had his finally draw the conclusion, and send the piece of information to headquarters, that the American woman was unit leader. He had stood by the conclusion, which had been proven correct when Cotter was killed. 

Troy had roared out into the desert a few days later with a new second and it had gone from bad to worse. She and Cotter had made a good team, but she and Moffit were intrinsically connected and whatever internal squabbles he had hoped for were not appearing. 

_ Why _ he had stayed at her bedside had been paranoia, the fear that she would be gone one morning despite all medical evidence saying otherwise. It was...alarming. He should not fear them so irrationally, but he only felt comfortable that she wasn’t escaping if he was watching her. Her beauty had not gone unnoticed, nor had Fraulein Bauer’s and of the two he preferred Troy. 

She was more honest when she wanted to kill someone, and Bauer’s glare when he had revealed her identity to the sergeant had been hateful and chilling. 

Troy would shoot him in his face. 

Bauer would stab him in the back. 

He knew which he preferred. 

With a quiet puff of smoke, he returned to his work trying to cast all thoughts of the Rat Patrol from his mind. 

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> You know, I cross-posted this to FFN and I'll tell you what, writing for FFN.net is a VERY different feel than writing for AO3. So much so that I'm not hella pleased with how this one turned out so I might re-do it at some point.


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